


Friend of a Friend (Is Not Automatically a Friend)

by livin_la_vida_fandom



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bonding, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, That's A Shame, anyway i just wanted to send love to these cuties, apparently that's not a tag here, but i guess it can also be viewed in a shippy way?, friendly fluff, this is more of a friendship story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22621861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livin_la_vida_fandom/pseuds/livin_la_vida_fandom
Summary: Marinette, Adrien, Kagami and Luka make plans to hang out, but when an akuma attack happens, superhero duties must be fulfilled, leaving two very awkward, very different people to try and find a way to waste time together until their friends come back.
Relationships: Luka Couffaine & Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Friend of a Friend (Is Not Automatically a Friend)

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, yeah, leave it to me to focus on the side-characters of the story. Anyway, I wanted to explore the dynamic between this two, because I'm not sure we've seen them in more than one short scene together (but don't hold me on that, I watched only random episodes, so I can't be counted on when it comes to precise canon information). Seeing as they are in similar, but also very different situations, I guess they were written somewhat as a foil characters to each other (aside from being obvious foils to the two leads), and that got me thinking about how they would interact with each other, and out popped this baby. Anyway, I'm going to stop rambling now, because it's late here and I'm sleepy, and I'm probably going to regret half of the things I wrote here in the morning.
> 
> Enjoy!

Certainly, this wasn’t how either of them planned on spending their afternoon. But there was an akuma attack on the other side of the city, and Marinette and Adrien _suddenly remembered_ they had _very important, very unfinished business_ they had to take care of, and they’re so sorry, but they will have to leave for a while, hopefully not for too long, but if Kagami and Luka could just wait for them, that would be so great.

With those words, they both rushed off in different directions, leaving Kagami and Luka to both marvel at the, well, idiocy of the two whose secret identities they had figured out a long time ago (and who couldn’t for the love of everything figure out each other’s), and to awkwardly sit in silence at the disappearance of the glue that was holding the two of them together.

The four of them – Luka, Kagami, Adrien, and Marinette – made a deal to hang out on Luka’s houseboat (which turned into a gathering spot a long time ago), so Kagami and Luka could finally spend more time with each other and get to know more about each other in person. Both Adrien and Marinette were convinced the two could become great friends and, even though Luka and Kagami couldn’t agree with that sentiment (not that they had anything against each other – they just felt like they were too different to become close), they agreed to the idea because neither was able to say no to the two. The day was decided, Adrien’s father and Kagami’s mother convinced, snacks were prepared (courtesy of Marinette, of course), and Luka informed them that they would be alone, because his mother was visiting an old friend (what a coincidence Jagged was in town at the same time), and Juleka was spending the weekend at Rose’s.

Everything had started great – with Marinette and Adrien both present, Luka, and, more importantly, Kagami, were relaxed, the conversation flowed naturally. They joked, talked about their interests, Kagami and Luka were warming up to each other – and then the akuma happened, and the superhero duties kicked in. The kind-hearted, but quiet and soft-spoken Luka and the gentle, but shy and reserved Kagami were sitting alone, on the deck, facing each other, neither really knowing what to say. Luka was playing a soothing melody on his guitar, but unlike with Marinette, and even Adrien, the gentle sounds did nothing to break the awkwardness and tension that was unwillingly forming between the two. Kagami often opened her mouth and leaned in slightly, as if wanting to say something, but her reserved nature and fear of being misunderstood and rude made her back down, frowning, as if admitting defeat, and she hated it. Luka, on the other hand, knowing how socially awkward Kagami was from Marinette and Adrien’s stories, tried to be patient and unobtrusive, but after a few of Kagami’s botched attempts at starting a conversation, decided to take the matter into his own hands. He looked around, searching for something he could use as a conversation-starter, and finally settled his eyes on Kagami’s hands sitting perfectly still on her knees, elegant but tense.

“Have you ever painted your nails, Kagami?”, Luka asked, startling Kagami out of her swirling mind. She narrowed her eyes at the question at first, but after understanding what it was, she gratefully took the opportunity to break the uncomfortable silence (Luka really was as kind and sensitive as Marinette had described him). She looked down at her nails, before offering her answer.

“Not really, no. I was afraid Mother wouldn’t find it proper. I have tried on neutral colors a few times before, when I was advised it would go well with my clothes, but other than that, I have never tried it.”

Luka looked contemplative for a few moments and then, with a gentle smile, asked, “Would you like to try it now?”

Kagami’s eyes widened slightly, but the question hadn’t surprised her as much as she thought it should. Maybe an unconscious part of her remembered his style, and his oft-black nails that were bare now and – well, they somehow didn’t look right like that. She looked at her nails again. Would it really be bad if she decorated them just a bit? After all, if Mother didn’t approve of them, she could always take the paint off. She can take a little of Mother’s scolding – she’s taken much more so far.

“I’m not really sure I could paint them nicely”, she replied, not outright rejecting. Luka smiled with that gentle smile again.

“I could paint them for you”, he offered, and then backtracked when he realized that might have been too forward with a girl he wasn’t close to, and who was raised in a very strict household. “That is, if it doesn’t make you uncomfortable”, he added, not wanting her to feel pressured or guilty for refusing the offer. Kagami studied him for a bit, and Luka shifted slightly under her gaze, until Kagami very curtly nodded her head.

“I’d appreciate that, thank you.”

Luka sighed quietly, smiling at Kagami (maybe she should ask him to teach her how to easily smile even at people she wasn’t close to). He then excused himself to go to his and Juleka’s room and bring back the bottles of nail polish the siblings shared. Kagami blinked slowly at the number of bottles he had brought back, and then blinked again at the somewhat limited choice of colors. There were mostly dark shades of reds, blues, purples, and greens, with _several_ bottles of black nail polish and two surprisingly out of place bottles of different shades of pink.

(“ _Well. Maybe they weren’t_ that _surprising_ ”, Kagami reasoned with herself, after remembering who the siblings’ two favorite guests were.)

Luka immediately picked up a half-used bottle of black nail polish, indicating that he didn’t feel like changing his usual color, but Kagami was unable to decide which color to choose. Luka, noticing her slight confusion, reached out for a bottle of dark red polish and, all while wearing his usual smile, waved it in front of her.

“I actually picked this color right away as the one that would fit you the best”, he said, twirling the bottle in his hand, “but I wanted to give you a chance to choose the color yourself. You seem unable to do it, however, so…”, he trailed off, hoping (again) that he didn’t overstep any boundaries and offend her. Kagami quietly took the bottle from his hands, twirling it around just as Luka had done and examined it before she set it on the stool in front of her.

“…Why this color, exactly?”, she asked, not accusingly, but rather curiously. It was a deep shade of red, dark, but not enough to be confused for a burgundy; just a very intense, very _obvious_ shade of red. Luka shrugged.

“I told you, it suits you”, he answered, putting on his first coat of polish. “It’s a color of passion, yes, but there are all sorts of passions, not just the love sort, and you strike me as a very passionate person”, he smirked, “both in love and everything else”.

Kagami smirked, not at all offended, actually quite pleased. Luka finished putting on the first layer on all of his fingernails (he was very fast and precise – it comes with years of practice, Kagami guessed), and then continued explaining his reasoning.

“Besides, to me, the color also represents strength and determination, which, from the stories I’ve heard, are both your strong points”.

“Thank you”, Kagami replied, blushing just a little bit from the praise. “Still, isn’t the color a little too… showy? Noticeable?”

“Just like you.”

As soon as the words left Luka’s mouth though, he winced at realizing how that sounded. “I didn’t mean you were showy, I mean, I meant you were noticeable. Striking. You call attention to yourself even if you aren’t trying. You’re just a very strong presence, is what I was trying for, I guess.” Luka awkwardly finished, meaning to run his hands through his hair but remembering at the last moment he’d just finished putting on nail polish. Kagami observed him for a while, face impassive, before her lips stretched into a big smile, both confident and bashful and grateful, and Luka smiled in return, genuinely happy that he managed to make her smile.

“Alright then. You’ve convinced me. Luka, would you please paint my nails red?”, Kagami smirked, and then shifted her expression into one of utter seriousness. Luka nodded his head solemnly.

“It would be an honor.”

While he was working on her nails, Luka hummed along to a tune Kagami didn’t recognize, but enjoyed nonetheless. Both of them were swaying slightly to the sound, Luka careful not to lose the control of his hands drawing precise lines on Kagami’s nails. As it would be a bad idea to paint them while his own were still wet, Luka put off painting on the second coat, so the polish on his nails was still thin, the color barely there, leading Kagami to think about how he could paint it over with a new color and change his usual look.

“Luka?”, she called, and he hummed in response. “Pardon my asking, but why do you always paint your nails black?”

Luka raised an inquisitive brow at her, but didn’t say anything, instead giving her time to add to her question.

“Well, I was simply thinking about how you’ve said that red is _my_ color, and that’s why you want to paint my nails red”, Kagami supplied, while Luka went back to working on her nails – he was putting on the second coat now. “You always paint your nails black – at least, as far as I’ve seen – and black isn’t you. Your color is more of a… well”, she said, looking slightly afraid of somehow offending him,” blue. I don’t mean that just because you’ve dyed the tips of your hair blue (which Mother would have severely punished her for), but because, like you’ve said it yourself, I associate the color with you. It gives off a sense of peace, calm, and serenity – just like you. It’s quiet but somehow steady. I don’t know if I’m making sense.”

Kagami huffed, frustrated at being unable to word her thoughts well, but Luka simply smiled at her, and there was that feeling again – like the _smile itself_ was blue, saying _“it’s alright, I’ve understood what you were trying to say – calm down”_. She’d seen several smiles of his, and every single one she could associate with a shade of blue; the calming, sea blue smile that he’d just given her; the supportive sky blue smile, that told you that you could do everything you wanted – the sky was the limit; the mischievous neon blue one, that spoke of the wilder side of him, the side that played electric guitars and teased his friends, and that would easily turn into a deep frown when he needed to rush to his friends’ protection.

Then there was the deep blue sad one. She’d seen that smile often directed at Marinette.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Luka chuckled, said that the second layer was finished, and then raised his eyes – his blue eyes – at her to answer her question.

“Don’t you think I’m already blue enough?”, he joked, waving his hands in the general direction of himself, and Kagami chuckled, agreeing. Luka then stood up to get his guitar, which confused Kagami a bit, but she was patient, guessing that the guitar had something to do with the answer to her question. Luka sat next to her, propped his guitar on his knees, and pushed a part of it onto Kagami’s.

“See the guitar strings? They are sort of silver, aren’t they?”, Kagami nodded her head after paying attention to them, and then Luka, well, _smiled_ , and finally gave her the answer to her question. “I like the way my black nails contrast the silver strings. Though it may not be that obvious to others. Besides, I’ve never thought of black as a, I don’t know, a sad color. To me, it was always just somewhat mysterious, but mostly a background that could amplify the other colors and make them pop-out more. You know, like a side-character that adds to the main one’s personality”, he finished, and the smirk he gave at the end told her a lot about what he thought of _their_ position.

Kagami returned the smirk, thanked him for his answer, and then Luka continued working on the last layer of her nail polish while humming the song he was humming before. When he was done with her nails, he went on to quietly finish doing his own, and though they were both silent, this time the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. Luka made a quick work of his nails, and while he let them dry he and Kagami talked a little about her fencing classes and his band practices. After a while, Luka declared his nails dry and safe to use, which he promptly showed by taking a macaroon off the almost-forgotten table filled with snacks. Kagami did the same and, after Luka finished eating his macaroon, and his fingers were free again, Kagami decided to ask him to play the guitar for her again.

“The tune you were humming while painting our nails – could you play that one?”

Luka, seeming quite pleased, took the guitar into his hands, played a few chords to relax his fingers, and then started to play first the song Kagami asked for, and then many others, while they were both waiting for Marinette and Adrien to come back. Even though at the beginning they were both somewhat reluctant to agree with their friends’ firm belief that they could become friends, by the end of the day (and after a very tired, and very wired Marinette and Adrien came back), Luka and Kagami were quite pleased to be able to call one another just that.


End file.
